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Leander Paes completes career Grand Slam. Congratulate him!
Leander Paes created history on Saturday, becoming the first Indian to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Australian Open men's doubles title with Radek Stepanek.
Congratulate Leander Paes
The unseeded Indo-Czech pair came up with a sizzling performance to shock top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6(1), 6-2 in the final, which lasted 84 minutes.Paes had reached the Australian open final thrice, but lost on all occasions, twice to the Bryan brothers.
Australian Open has eluded Paes for years
The title eluded Paes since the late 90s, when he and estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi dominated the doubles circuit and took the number one spot as a team in 1999.
Congratulate Leander Paes
In their quest to complete the Slam, he and Bhupathi reunited in 2011, after a gap 11 years, but the Bryans denied them the crown.Paes and Bhupathi ended terminated partnership again at the end of the last season, with the latter choosing Rohan Bopanna as partner on Tour for the 2012 season.
Paes, India's most successful doubles player in majors
Paes began the season by winning the Chennai Open with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.
This is his 13th Grand Slam title, his seventh men's doubles, to go with six mixed doubles titles. It makes him India's most successful doubles player in majors.
For the record, Bhupathi has 11 Grand Slam titles.
Paes has chance to repeat a rare success
Paes won the French Open thrice (1999, 2001, 2009) and Wimbledon (1999) and US Open (2006).
Congratulate Leander Paes
He now has a chance to repeat the rare success of winning both the men's doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same Grand Slam tournament as he is due to play the mixed doubles final on Sunday with Russian partner Elena Vesnina.At 38, what Paes has achieved is just fantastic. Jon us in congratulating him.
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